Published on: 04/19/2022 – 05:27 Modified on: 04/19/2022 – 07:32
Joe Biden is taking part in a virtual meeting on Tuesday “with the United States’s allies and partners” about Ukraine, as the Russian offensive in the east of the country began. Follow the latest developments of this day hour by hour.
6.05 a.m .: Economists like Piketty and Stiglitz want to target the hidden money of wealthy Russians
Several renowned economists, including France’s Thomas Piketty and America’s Joseph Stiglitz, have issued a letter urging G20 leaders to create a global wealth register to better target the hidden fortunes of Russian oligarchs. “The case of the Russian oligarchs is eloquent” when it comes to hiding fortunes in opaque structures, these economists say in a letter to G20 leaders published in Britain’s The Guardian daily on Tuesday.
They hold “at least $1,000 billion in assets abroad,” according to estimates in the letter, signed notably by Frenchmen Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman and American Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, all members of the Independent Commission for Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT), a think tank. However, these fortunes are often “hidden in offshore companies whose true owners are difficult to determine,” they continue, adding that “it is against this wall of opacity that countries’ efforts are sanctioned.”
5:09 am: The United States and its allies rally around Ukraine
US President Joe Biden will attend a virtual meeting dedicated to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine on Tuesday, April 18, the White House said, as Kyiv assured Moscow had launched a new phase of its offensive in Donbass . The US president will be speaking “with unnamed US allies and partners” about “further support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable,” a White House official told AFP.
3:00 am.: Gulliver Cragg from France 24 on the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine
02:04
1:55 a.m.: The “Battle for Donbass” has begun
Russian forces have launched their offensive against eastern Ukraine, which they are shelling massively while continuing their strikes in the west, Ukrainian authorities announced on Monday.
“We can now say that Russian troops have started the battle for Donbass, for which they have been preparing for a long time. A very large part of the entire Russian army is now devoted to this offensive,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. in a speech broadcast on Telegram.
No matter how many Russian soldiers are brought here, we will fight. We will defend ourselves,” he said, after warning the day before that “they want to literally finish off and destroy Donbass.”
00:29
00:50 Discussions on creating a “humanitarian contact group” in Turkey, including Ukraine and Russia
The UN and Turkey are discussing the creation of a “humanitarian contact group” to bring Ukraine and Russia together on Turkish soil – under the aegis of the United Nations – a senior UN official said on Monday. If Ukraine has already reacted positively to this approach, Russia, which was informed about the proposal in early April, has not yet announced its position.
With AFP